Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said today:"Of course I regret that it has been necessary to make redundancies to deliver our plans for reducing the size of the Armed Forces. The Royal Navy and RAF redundancy figures are smaller than anticipated due to the MoD's ability to use other measures such as slowing recruitment. No further significant reductions are expected for the Royal Navy or RAF. We still have some way to go to bring the size of the Army down to 82,000 and decisions on what is necessary to achieve this are yet to be taken, but we won't compromise the mission in Afghanistan."

Commodore P. Cunningham, Royal Navy, to be Head of Joint Support Chain Services within Defence Equipment and Support with effect from January 2011.

Commodore J. A. Morse, Royal Navy, to be the Chief of the Defence Staffs Liaison Officer to the US Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, in succession to Air Commodore R. W. Judson, RAF, with effect from October 2011.

Captain R. C. Payne, Royal Navy, to be Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff (Carrier Strike) within Navy Command Headquarters, in succession to Captain R. S. Alexander, Royal Navy, with effect from February 2011.

Captain R. S. Alexander, Royal Navy, to be Assistant Director Carrier Strike Transition and Aviation Coherence with Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff with effect from February 2011.

Captain P. J. Titterton, QBE, Royal Navy, to be Director of the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff, in succession to Captain R. M. Allen, Royal Navy, with effect from June 2011.

Commander W. Oliphant, Royal Navy, to be promoted acting captain and to be the Joint Force 435 Liaison Officer with effect from January 2011.

Captain R. M. Pegg, OBE, Royal Navy, to be Director of the National Maritime Information Centre with effect from December 2010.

Captain D. J. Noyes, Royal Navy, to be Deputy Commander Joint Force Support (Afghanistan) Headquarters with effect from December 2011.

Captain P. A. Erskine, Royal Navy, to be Director Industry Liaison with BAES Surface Ships Limited, in succession to Commodore A. D. Penny, Royal Navy, with effect from January 2011.

Commander M. D. J. Dyer, Royal Navy, to be promoted captain and to be Deputy Head Chief Information Officer J6 in succession to Group Captain I. M. A. Kirkwood, RAF, with effect from January 2011.

Lieutenant Colonel K. B. Oliver, Royal Marines, to be promoted colonel and to be Policy and Plans Adviser to Commander Kosovo Security Force with effect from February 2011.

Commander. A. Borland, Royal Navy, to be promoted captain and to be Head of Stability Division, Regional Command (South West) Afghanistan with effect from March 2011.

Commander J. G. Higham, Royal Navy, to be promoted captain and to be Chief of Strategic Engagement Cell, Headquarters International Stabilisation Assistance Force (Afghanistan), in succession to Captain P. R. Casson, Royal Navy, with effect from September 2011.

Army

Major-General R. Everard, CBE, Late Queen's Royal Lancers, currently General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division, to be Chief of Staff Headquarters International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, in succession to Major-General T. P. Evans, DSO, MBE, in December 2011.

Brigadier J. F. Rowan, QBE, QHS, Late Royal Army Medical Corps, currently Commander 2nd Medical Brigade, to be Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Health), in the rank of major-general, in succession to Surgeon Rear-Admiral L. J. Jam's, QHS, in December 2011.

Royal Air Force

Air Vice-Marshal G. J. Bagwell, CBE, to be Chief of Staff (Joint Warfare Development) in the Permanent Joint Headquarters, in August 2011, in succession to Major General R. J. M. Porter, MBE.

Air Commodore I. D. Teakle, DSO, QBE, to be Director Combined Air & Space Operations Centre, Al Udeid, Qatar, in May 2011, in succession to Brigadier General J. Norman, United States Air Force.

Air Commodore A. C. Wilcock to be Assistant Chief of Staff Health, Headquarters Air Command, on May 13,2011, in succession to Air Commodore The Honourable R. J. M. Broadbridge, whose next appointment as Head of Healthcare, Joint Medical Command, has already been announced.

Group Captain R. L. A. Atherton to be promoted air commodore and to be Head of Defence Logistics (Commodities), Defence Equipment & Support, on January 4, 2011, in succession to Air Commodore A. T. Gell

Tuesday, 05 October 2010 Robin Ashby

Extracts from a submission for the Strategic Defence and Security Review by Oliver Covile MP. Mr Colvile is MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and chairs the Royal Marines group within the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces.

The Strategic Defence and Security Review is being conducted in the context of a much wider public expenditure review. Public expenditure needs to fall as a proportion of national income to stabilise the public finances and to reduce the crowding out effects that public spending has on private sector economic activity.

Nevertheless, this paper argues for establishing the priority given to defence spending within public spending and national income as a whole.

The previous Labour Government's Green Paper (February 2010) assumed that defence should be planned within the current level of spending or less. I believe that this assumption needs to be explicitly abandoned by the Coalition Government. Defence of the Realm and its interests are a fundamental duty of any Government and a core belief amongst Conservatives.

Defence spending within overall public spending and national income

While it was right to reduce defence spending as a share of GDP after the end of the Cold War from around 5 per cent of GDP, the peace dividend sought in the early 1990s was too great.

The Options for Change White Paper went too far in reducing defence spending in relation to the international risks UK has to recognise and prepare to meet in terms of properly funded defence capabilities.

Having reduced the share of GDP devoted to defence to less than 3 per cent, defence spending after 1997 was subject to a further squeeze that pushed it slightly below 2.5 per cent of GDP in the mid 2000s, despite increased spending resulting from extensive overseas operations.

In my judgement this is an unrealistic basis for defence and foreign policy planning. Historically it is a very low level indeed, apparently lower than the previously lowest recorded proportion of national income spent on defence in 1930 when it was 2.6 per cent.

Not only has defence spending fallen as a share of national income but also as a proportion of total government expenditure. The ONS study in 2009 on public sector output productivity between 1997 and 2007 among other things exemplifies how public expenditure priorities have been changed.

The weight given to defence within General Government Expenditure by sector weight, fell from 15.1 per cent to 11 per cent. What this shows is that during a period when there was increased international risk and with more than two major protracted operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, at a time when public spending was rising rapidly, the priority given to defence was reduced.

In my judgment this priority need to be reversed. It is not a question of affordability but priority within public spending.The proportion of public expenditure devoted to defence should return to a position that is at least comparable to that in 1997. I believe that the ratio of GDP spent on defence should return to a more realistic level closer to 3 per cent of GDP.

The principle issue about the level of defence spending is not one of affordability, but rather one of deciding political priorities.

Royal Air Force (RAF) operational low flying training timetables in 3 areas of the UK.

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Robin Ashby, Director General of the UK Defence Forum introduces Defence Viewpoints, which features original contributions, reproduced material and reviews, sometimes of a slightly partisan nature, on defence, security and peace issues. It also recognises the sacrifices made by members of armed forces.

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DisclaimerUKDF Defence Viewpoints is intended as a forum for political discussion and debate on security, defence, peace and strategic issues. The views of authors are theirs alone, and publication of them here should not be interpreted as an endorsement by the U K Defence Forum, which holds no views of its own, or any of its associates. We are grateful to thinktanks, academics and publications for permission to reproduce their material. Copyright remains with original authors even when anonymous.